Talks in the dark
by The 11th Doctor
Summary: The Doctor and the Master talk about what happend to them in the Time War. Update This was supposed to be a 2 chapter stpry. A sort of one shot. But ideas are developing so it might develop and apwn at least 2 new chapters.
1. Time Lord Confrence

Time Lord conference

The Doctor had sat in the tent he had been made to sleep in by the very generous Master. He had known the Master for years. And yes, they were enemies, yes the Doctor had defeated every plot the Master had ever devised to rule (or sometimes even destroy) the earth. Or any other world he tried conquering. But he had always thought that he and the Master had a mutual respect. Maybe it was the youth of is new regeneration. Or the Time War. But whatever it was. The Master was insane. And gone had the mutual respect that they shared for each other. As the Doctor pondered on this he heard the door of the Valliant bridge door open. And footsteps approached nearer and nearer until they stopped dead in front of the Doctors tent. The Doctor could sense his Gallifreyen anatomy. Now they were alone for the first time since the Doctor had seen him blown into atoms in the eye of harmony.

"Master" The Doctor broke the silence

"Doctor, Why don't you come on out of your tent and have a little catch up with your lord and Master"

"There's only thing I have to say to you Master. It doesn't matter how long I have to wait. And you know…

The Doctor was silenced with a foot in the face. He was then dragged out of his tent and thrown in a chair.

"I am the Master and you will obey me or else you will bear witness to each of miss Joneses family being slowly sliced by my wonderful Toclafane.

"There not Toclafane. There…" The Doctor stopped. Not wanting to speak what he already knew.

"Their humans Doctor." The Master said in a cruel whisper. "Serving me. As it always should have been. Now then." Said the Master spinning the Doctors chair.

"Lets get down to business. How did YOU? Out of all those great minds. How did the cosmic gypsy of time and space escape while the rest of the Time Lord burnt?

The Doctor took a deep breath. He could very little. Even talk. Without getting tired due to the results of the Masters laser screwdriver.

"It was the final assault on the Daleks. The Vortex was literally filled with ships. But…. The Daleks were winning. There were just so many. They soon began to invade Gallifrey. The time lords tried but there was just…there was just so many of them. Wave after wave of Daleks. Romana and Susan were dead. The Rani had betrayed us. I thought it was the final end.

"I take it wasn't" Sad the Master. Disappointed evident in his voice

"No. The Time Lords were dieing. Tine and space were being torn inside out. Then I heard a voice. In my head. Telling me what to do. It was Rassilon, Master. I did what he told me. By this point there was much time distortion it was dangerous just fly a TARDIS. Let alone what I was about to do. Rassilon told me I had to open the eye of Harmony so it would implode on itself. Sucking the Daleks, as well as the Time Lords into it.

" Eye of Harmony. That didn't work on me did it." Said the Master.

"You know that's a just a link. And when they were sucked into they sucked into a newly formed black hole."

"Why weren't you?"

"Romana, While I was staying on Gallifrey during the Time War she was drugging me neuron particles. The particles in my TARDIS and me activated. I woke up in my TARDIS, which survived the carnage by escaping through a very carefully made Time corridor. Of course that didn't grant me a free ride. It cost me my eighth life. After I had regenerated I scanned for the Time Lords. Over and over again I scanned, there was nothing. I was alone. Everywhere I went after. I always saw scars of the Time War. Entire planets burnt to sinders."

The Master let out a small laugh that turned into a chuckle.

"Stop it" said the Doctor. He wanted nothing more then to grap the Master and shout at him to stop his laughing. " He could have helped save them

"You" Said the Master through heavy laughing, " You tried to be a hero but ended up the biggest killer. It's always been a " Catch 22" of yours hasn't it Doctor. You tried to be a hero but you coudnt save them. You couldn't save me.

"Since when did you need saving. Aren't you the Master of all. That should also include saving your own skin."

The Master pulled the Doctor towards him and rewarded him for questioning his greatness with three hard punches in the face"

"YOU'VE NO IDEA WHAT I WENT THROUGH" bellowed the Master

"Surprise me. Im sure its nothing I haven't been through.

"Very well then Doctor" Said the Master reseating himself "My turn"

"Yes" the Doctor took a tissue from his pocket and wiped the blood from his nose "So then Master, how did you survive the Time War"


	2. Chapter 2

A Mastery escape

"I know the shady details, you turned yourself human to escape. But what happened before then" asked the Doctor

"You mean when I was bought back from the dead" Said the Master "I thought you were against that, I mean poor Jack. Left alone in a distant time because of your selfish prejudice views. He muse have been so scared"

"We've all made mistakes. I bet you wish you had taken my hand back in San Francisco"

"Never." The Master sat in silence for a few moments. "The pain" he said breaking the silence "The never ending time winds ravishing every piece of me".

"You were alive?" asked the Doctor.

"Every second. You see I had taken so many forms. That Trakenite, A feral cheetah creature. Due to that oh so wonderful virus of course, and a shapeshifter. And because all those changes I existed as compressed matter. It was like the Vortex was a knife and was cutting me , but I became too small to be cut again. It seemed like forever. But then I was alive, regenerating. Have you ever been alive during regeneration? It hurts so much. But I was alive. I was lying naked in a holding cell in the Capital. They told me that my essence was bought to them through the aid of the Time Scoop.

"The time scoop. I thought that was destroyed after that business with Bourusa"

"Oh yes, when there were five versions of you being plucked out of time. No, Flavia kept it hidden. It was only before her death that she revealed to Romana that it was spared. They scooped me up, plunked me in a Time Lord body. And sent me to war, they told me that if I helped fight the Daleks. I would be given a pardon for my crimes and a TARDIS, and the other half of my new regeneration cycle. The first half came as standard In case I got unlucky half a dozen times. Time Lords are…Were always thinking the worst."

"The Worst always happens when it comes to t he Daleks," said the Doctor

The Master got up out of his and knelt down next to the Doctor so there faces were level

"The worst always happens when it comes to me Doctor. The Daleks screamed as I killed them in new ways every time. They begged for pity, for mercy. I was a Hostile element that they couldn't exterminate. I had them on the ropes Doctor. My battle tactics were winning the war…. But then, they caught me. Led into a trap. My final mission was to destroy the Emperors ship with a genetic gas bomb. All I had to do was set it of in the mother ship engine room and the explosion would destroy the entire Dalek fleet. But they knew what they were planning. They let my TARDIS through their shields.

"You didn't think it was all too easy." Asked the Doctor

"They staged their shields failure to make it look like the Time Lords attacks were weakening them. They wanted me caught you see. Or rather Davros did"

"Why"

"To make me a Dalek, A Dalek emperor, the current emperor had began to rise against him and soon factions of Daleks began questioning Davros's authority. He needed a new Emperor to bring order back. And I was the perfect candidate. But he began using mind probes, And torture for information. Information I would forget as a Dalek. The torture was endless. I fought back regenerating at the risk Id let something slip thought my new voice, just in case I said a bit more then HELLO" The Master smiled and sat back in his chair. " I was dying. But I summoned enough mental energy to attack Davros's Mind. I forced him to let me go. The Time Lords had attacked the mother ship. It being burned from the inside, Daleks screaming as the flames devoured them.I found my TARIDS, dematerialised and returned to Gallifrey. My lifespan needed collecting. But I got there and it was... like hell. Burning, death, decay and Daleks everywhere. The emperor was leading the assault. The Capital had fallen.

So I ran. I got in my TARIDS and I flew so far. But soon. My regeneration kicked kin. I woke up and… I was a boy. I looked no more then fifteen. Perhaps that's why I did what I did. The youth of my new incarnation. All for finding the closet solution even if it's not the smartest one. I set the coordinates. They were totally random and I didn't even bother look. I set the TARDIS to land and leave me on wherever it landed.

"Bit of a risk that. Could have landed on metabliis 3." The Doctor and the Master both laughed. The Doctor felt. if only for a second. The mutual respect they once shared "But why turn human, you had escaped"

"I was…. Terrified Doctor. Terrified the Daleks would find me. The last thing I remember before turning human. Lying in my TARDIS. And my cells being re-written and then there was nothing. Until the earth child Martha Jones woke me up. All this Doctor. Is because of her. I must thank her before I kill her Doctor."

The Master got up and walked towards the door of the Valiant bridge The Master stopped short of the door.

"Oh Doctor, My Toclafane found an old friend of ours. Miss Grant."

"Leave her alone Master. Bellowed the Doctor "You can conquer but why do you have to kill, what's the point."

"Fear Doctor, is the most powerful emotion in the universe. That's why. I kill a few so many fear. And don't worry Doctor. I bought Miss Grant up see you. And don't worry…" The Master reached his pocket and got an urn. I personally made sure she got a great send of" The Master chucked the urn and it shattered revealing it contents, human ash. With that the Master left the room. The Doctor sat alone for hours. Sleep not even half crossing his mind. He was staring at the remains of his former travelling companion.

"For you Jo" whispered the Doctor " If not for anything else for you. I'll make it so you never suffered. I'm sorry" The Doctor closed his eyes and began tuning himself into the psychic network of the Masters archangel signal. His key to victory would be his downfall. If Martha succeeded with the task he'd gven her.


End file.
